Sonu Niigaam, a name to reckon with in the Indian music fraternity, can be best described as one of the greatest playback singers of Bollywood.However, when Sonu started his playback singing career in Bollywood, he sang a lot of of Mohammad Rafi songs. Today, he is considered as one of the most powerful voices in Bollywood.
The biggest debate that’s haunting many music lovers of the country is that whether Sonu has achieved the level of excellence that Rafi had reached in the 50s and 60s. But Sonu doesn’t appreciate the debate and says that Rafi was unparallel and will always remain the uncrowned King of Bollywood music.
Mohammad Rafi’s influence
Rafi is the ultimate idol for Sonu. His singing career began at the age of three, when he joined his father on stage to sing Mohammad Rafi's ‘Kya Hua Tera Vaada, Wo Kasam Wo Irada’. Since then, Sonu joined his father on his singing appearances at weddings and parties.
During his teenage, he also participated in numerous music competitions and also won. Later at the age of 19, he decided to move to Mumbai with his father in order to pursue a career in singing.
Shortly, he developed his own individual style and is now one of the most sought after male voices in Bollywood. But at the request of music composer Pyarelal Sharma of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo, Sonu once again agreed to recreate the legendary Mohammad Rafi magic. On 7th May, 2011 Sonu presented some everlasting songs sung by Mohammad Rafi in Mumbai during a special concert.
As an actor
Sonu, who did his schooling in Delhi, also worked as a child artist in quite a few movies like Pyaara Dushman, Hum se hai Zamaana, Ustaadi Ustad Ke, Kaamchor, Taqdeer and Betaab between 1980 and 1983.
As a host
He also hosted the singing show Sa Re Ga Ma in 1995. It was this show that gave Sonu an opportunity to showcase his singing skills as well as his natural charm and audience appeal.
As a singer
Sonu’s big break was the song ‘Achchha Sila Diya’ from the album Bewafa Sanam (1995), which became very popular. Soon after that, singing offers started pouring in. He rose to fame with Anu Malik’s song ‘Sandese Aate Hain’ for Border in 1997.
But his image as a copy of Rafi was changed after his rendition of the Nadeem-Shravan composed song ‘Yeh Dil Deewana’ in Pardes in 1997. Since then, he has created a matchless style of his own and has become a role model for many upcoming singers.
As an RJ
Sonu added one more silhouette to his career in 2006 when he became a Star Radio Jockey for Radio City 91.1 FM. He had more than 5 million listeners glued to their radios for one hour every week on his show Life Ki Dhun with Sonu Niigaam.
The show became a stage for him to share his views, interact with his fans and interview colleagues from the music industry. He even persuaded Lata Mangeshkar for a 3 and a half hour long live interview which by itself was a huge achievement.
International recognition
In November 2007, Sonu was invited to perform at the prestigious Harvard University on the significant event of the installation of the statue of Dr Drew Gilpin Faust who was the university’s 28th president.
Not just that, he recently collaborated with none other than Britney Spears for the remix of her popular song called ‘I Wanna Go’. The song is going to be a fusion of east meeting west. It is said that the ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ singer will sing a few lines in Hindi in the remix version whereas Sonu will recite some classical notes.
He also collaborated with Michael Jackson’s brother Jerome Jackson for the track of ‘This Is It’ as a tribute to the late pop sensation.
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